PCB considers staging PSL 4 in Pakistan

Pakistan Cricket Board PCB) is considering hosting the complete season of Pakistan Super League in Pakistan as the rift between PCB and Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) continues, Express Tribune reported.

The decision for changing the venue of the fourth edition of Pakistan’s own blockbuster T20 league is likely to be made in a meeting on June 12th.

PCB had asked the UAE cricket authorities to not to host any T20 league during the window of October to March, otherwise, they will look for an alternative venue to host their home series as well as the lucrative PSL.

However, ECB gave little attention to PCB’s words and they have announced their own T20 league which is likely to take place between December and January. Moreover, Afghanistan Cricket Board has already announced that they will host their league in October, while T10 League is likely to be played in November in the UAE.

With all these leagues taking place in the UAE, PCB believes hosting PSL in their own country will be more fruitful than staging the tournament there.

Before making any decision, the board have to take all the franchise on the same page. As per reports, some franchises have already backed PCB’s idea of hosting the complete season of PSL in Pakistan.

“We don’t think there is any point of hosting the PSL in UAE now,” a franchise official told Daily Express.

He believes that with so many cricket leagues taking place in that part of the world, they will not get attractive enough sponsorships and broadcasters will also not pay them well.

“We are here to do business and this does not seem like a good deal because if the tournament is being organised in the UAE, with so much T20 and T10 cricket around, we will not be getting the best possible sponsorship deals due to the saturation in the market,” he told.

“Broadcasters will also not be paying us sufficient amount of money for the tournament and we don’t think people will want to come to the grounds for the matches as well. We genuinely believe having next edition of PSL in Pakistan is a viable option as the country’s law and order situation has vastly improved,” he added.

Moreover, another franchise official told that if the league is being played in Pakistan, availability of big names would really not matter in the long run.

“Recently we’ve seen great rivalry building up between franchises, which is great news for the competition,” he said. “Once we have the PSL in Pakistan, we can attract hundreds and thousands of followers of each franchise to the ground, which means even if big name players don’t come to the country, it will not hurt the brand’s image in the long run.”